August | 2012 | DioSCG News Briefs: Aug. 31, 2012 Pope greets new NAC seminarians; they respond with song Castel Gandolfo, Italy–Wearing new clerical suits, the 62 new students at the Pontifical North American College received a personal greeting from Pope Benedict XVI, to which they responded in song. “Dear seminarians, use your time in Rome to conform yourselves more completely to Christ,” the pope told the young men Aug. 26 after reciting the Angelus with them and hundreds of other visitors in the courtyard of the papal villa at Castel Gandolfo. The 62 men–who come from 46 US dioceses, two Australian and one Canadian diocese–sang “Ad Multos Annos” to Pope Benedict, wishing him “many years” in Latin, and the pope applauded in thanks. The pope prayed that the seminarians and all Catholics would “remain faithful to the Lord, even when our faith in his teachings is tested.” The new students at the North American College, the seminary in Rome sponsored by the US bishops, arrived at the college Aug. 23 for orientation.

A total of 248 seminarians from 97 dioceses in the US, Canada and Australia are expected at the college this year. In his main Angelus address, Pope Benedict commented on the Sunday Gospel reading about how some followers of Jesus abandoned him when they could not understand or accept his teachings. ©CNS Pope, at audience, says Christians must not compromise Christ’s truth Castel Gandolfo, Italy–Marking the feast of the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist, Pope Benedict XVI said Christians must not bow to the pressure of the powerful who demand a denial of Christ or of the truth he taught. “The truth is the truth and there is no compromise,” the pope said at his weekly general audience Aug. 29, the day the church remembers St. John the Baptist’s beheading. An estimated 2,500 people gathered in the town square just outside the papal summer villa in Castel Gandolfo for the main part of the pope’s audience. Walking with a cane, the pope then held a second, mini-audience in the courtyard of the papal villa with 2,600 French altar servers–boys and girls–who were on a pilgrimage to Rome.

Pope Benedict told the young people they were blessed to be “particularly close to Christ Jesus in the Eucharist. You have the enormous privilege of being close to the altar, close to the Lord.” The pope prayed that being an altar server would help the young people deepen their friendship with Christ and enthusiastically share God’s love with their friends and families. “And, if one day you feel called to follow the path to the priesthood or religious life, respond generously,” he told the youngsters. In his main audience talk, the pope said St. John the Baptist, “out of love for the truth, would not compromise with the powerful” who wanted him to deny Christ. ©CNS Message from girl’s first Communion balloon returned 11 years later Edgewood, IA–In 2001, Abbie Steger, then in second grade, took part in a tradition that has been going on for decades at St. Mark Church in Edgewood. On the Sunday after Easter, the small, tightknit parish’s first Communion class stands on a lawn outside the church and releases balloons. The colorful spheres fly into the sky carrying a poem and a personal message by each child.

The note asks whoever finds the balloon to contact the parish to let the child know where it ends its journey. The balloons travel far and wide, in some cases bringing people closer to God. Steger, now a 20-year-old sophomore at the University of Northern Iowa, can attest to that. Recently, about 11 years after her first Communion day, she received word that the parish heard from people who found the note that was with her balloon. “It was unbelievable,” said Steger. “I was in total shock. I never thought it would be returned.” Jody Kerns, the current director of religious education at St. Mark’s whose own son happened to be in Steger’s Communion class, contacted Steger’s mother to let the student know that the couple who found her note had returned it. “(The note) was very worn, but surprisingly you could read all the print,” Kerns told The Witness, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Dubuque. Steger’s balloon had floated onto a farm in Hatfield, Wis. Mark Harwick, who owns the property with his wife, Kathy, found the note after a huge flood. It was recovered in a culvert near a swamp.

Kathy Harwick called the parish directly. ©CNS Midwest drought expected to impact altar bread prices Greenville, RI–Manufacturers of altar bread are preparing to face rising costs of wheat flour as grain prices fluctuate in the wake of a severe drought that continues to plague the Midwest and Western Canada. But they expect to pass along only a minimal price increase to their customers. In Clyde, Mo., Benedictine Sr. Rita Claire Dohn, manager of the altar bread ministry of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, has witnessed a 25 percent increase in the price of wheat flour since the convent last received a delivery two months ago. “That’s pretty steep when there isn’t a large profit margin,” Sr. Dohn emphasized, adding that the convent is the largest religious producer of altar breads in the world. The sisters offer their altar breads wholesale to many smaller convents that resell the life-giving breads to support their community. “You have to be competitive,” she continued, noting that the sisters are being cautious and have yet to increase the prices of their goods. She added that the sisters will “hold off as long as possible,” on passing on to their customers any price increases.

In addition to making altar bread, the 52-member community is supported by the sale of liturgical vestments and gourmet popcorn. Sr. Dohn said the Clyde monastery produces about 125 million altar breads per year, from whole wheat or white bread. A package containing 500 hosts costs $5. A farmer in Kansas produces the whole-wheat flour they use, and the white flour comes from a commercial miller in Missouri. Because of contractual obligations, the sisters would not release specific information regarding wheat prices or their suppliers. Sr. Dohn said the prolonged drought has already taken a toll on the monastery grounds, where new landscaping has withered and died. “The trees are totally burned,” she said. “It looks like fall; the leaves are falling off the trees.” ©CNS Card. Dolan asks presidential candidates to sign civility petition New York–Card. Timothy M. Dolan of New York invited the Republican and Democratic candidates for president and vice president to sign a petition seeking civil dialogue and to refrain from personal attacks during the two months remaining in the campaign leading up to the November election.

The “Civility in America” petition developed by the Knights of Columbus calls on candidates, commentators and media representatives to focus on the important issues facing the country rather than on individual personalities. “I am writing to you and to the other candidates for president and vice president of this great nation to ask for your support of this effort, so that the upcoming campaign will remain focused on the critical issues facing our nation and not on personal attacks,” Card. Dolan said in letters to Pres. Barack Obama and Vice Pres. Joe Biden, the Democratic ticket, and Mitt Romney and Rep. Paul Ryan, the presumptive Republican nominees for president and vice president, respectively. The petition on the Knights of Columbus Web site had gained more than 20,000 signatures through Aug. 27. Card. Dolan’s letter said that if the candidates signed the petition he would “be most happy to convey” to Supreme Knight Carl A.

Anderson and to the 1.8 million members of the organization “that you have chosen to support this valuable effort.” The cardinal cited the results of a Knights of Columbus-Marist Poll conducted July 9-11 that found 78 percent of Americans are “frustrated with the tone in politics today.” ©CNS Card. Dolan to pray at close of both parties’ conventions New York–New York Card. Timothy M. Dolan will offer closing prayers at the Democratic National Convention Sept. 6, as he will at the Republican National Convention a week earlier. Card. Dolan, the president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, accepted an invitation from the Democratic convention organizers to deliver the benediction on the last night of the Sept. 4-6 event, after clearing it with Charlotte, NC, Bp. Peter J. Jugis, said an Aug. 28 statement from Joe Zwilling, spokesman for the New York Archdiocese. Since the Charlotte convention is in his diocese, protocol would call for Bp. Jugis to have the say over whether a bishop from another diocese plays such a role. Zwilling’s statement from the previous week announcing Card.

Dolan’s participation in the GOP convention in Tampa, Fla., said the cardinal had cleared that activity with St. Petersburg Bp. Robert N. Lynch, whose diocese includes Tampa. “It was made clear to the Democratic Convention organizers, as it was to the Republicans, that the cardinal was coming solely as a pastor, only to pray, not to endorse any party, platform, or candidate,” said Zwilling’s statement. Clergy from several denominations are scheduled to pray at the opening and closing of each day’s sessions of the party conventions. The tradition of such prayers goes back more than 100 years. It is unusual for the same person to pray at both conventions in the same year, but it’s not without precedent. For example, in 1948, Philadelphia Card. Dennis J. Dougherty prayed with both parties when the nominating conventions met in Philadelphia. ©CNS California archbishop apologizes after drunken driving arrest Oakland, CA–Abp. Salvatore J. Cordileone, to be installed in October as archbishop of San Francisco, was arrested in San Diego early Aug. 26 for driving under the influence.

The archbishop, a San Diego native, had his mother in the car. In an Aug. 27 statement issued from the Diocese of Oakland, which Abp. Cordileone has led for the past three years, the prelate apologized “for my error in judgment” and said he felt “shame for the disgrace I have brought upon the church and myself. I will repay my debt to society and I ask forgiveness from my family and my friends and co-workers at the Diocese of Oakland and the Archdiocese of San Francisco,” he added. “I pray that God, in his inscrutable wisdom, will bring some good out of this.” According to the archbishop’s statement, he was driving his mother to her home after dinner at the home of some friends, “along with a priest friend visiting from outside the country.” Abp. Cordileone’s mother lives near the campus of San Diego State University, where police had set up a DUI checkpoint. He admitted in his statement that he was found to be over California’s legal blood alcohol level, which is 0.08 percent. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Abp.

Cordileone spent the night in jail, and was released shortly before noon once he posted a $2,500 bond. He is scheduled to be arraigned on the misdemeanor charge Oct. 9–five days after his scheduled installation as San Francisco’s archbishop. If convicted, Abp. Cordileone faces penalties of up to three years of probation, two days in jail, an $1,800 fine and sobriety counseling. ©CNS Ex-CFO in Philadelphia gets two to seven years for stealing $900,000 Philadelphia–The former chief financial officer of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia will spend the next two to seven years in state prison for embezzling more than $900,000 from the church over seven years. Common Pleas Court Judge Ellen Ceisler sentenced Anita Guzzardi, 44, to prison at a hearing Aug. 24 in Philadelphia on her third-degree felony conviction of theft by deception. Guzzardi will also serve seven years’ probation on two other convictions, forgery and unlawful use of a computer. She had pleaded guilty to the three charges July 29.

Guzzardi sat downcast in a black business suit as Assistant District Attorney Lisa Caulfield described what she called the “lavish lifestyle” Guzzardi fueled through funds she embezzled in her work as a trusted senior financial officer of the archdiocese. Beginning in late 2004, Caulfield said, Guzzardi began to write archdiocesan checks to cover her expenses on her American Express credit card. The deception grew to a second Amex card and a Chase card, expenses for which she covered by cutting more than 300 checks over time totaling $906,000. Those expenses included frequent business trips in which she included family and friends, plus vacations to Hawaii, Las Vegas, the Bahamas and other locales, together with shopping sprees for clothes, gifts and flowers for herself, family and friends. After her promotion from archdiocesan controller to CFO in 2011, Guzzardi was fired by the archdiocese as a result of a joint probe by American Express, the Philadelphia district attorney and archdiocesan investigators. Caulfield rejected the contention of defense lawyer Louis R.

Busica that Guzzardi’s diagnosed gambling addiction–she frequently racked up bills from casinos in Atlantic City, NJ–somehow clouded her judgment and was to blame for the embezzlement, or because of financial need. Caulfield pointed out that Guzzardi earned a six-figure salary as archdiocesan controller and later CFO, and with her husband’s income, the couple, who have no children, were well off. ©CNS After college acceptance, next challenge for many is paying tuition Washington–After finally being accepted into college, the only headaches left for students are how to fit a dorm room into a car for move-in day–and how to afford that tuition. On June 29, Congress voted to keep the interest rate for Stafford federal student loans at 3.4 percent; it would have automatically doubled July 1, jeopardizing the ability of many graduates to afford the loans. The action came after months of speculation that lawmakers would not be able to reach a compromise. The bill keeping the interest at the current level for the next year was packaged with $100 billion in federal highway funding and a five-year reauthorization of national flood insurance. Pres.

Barack Obama praised the vote as necessary for keeping the American workforce educated and competitive. Signing the measure July 6, he said: “In today’s economy, a higher education is the surest path to finding a good job and earning a good salary and making it into the middle class.” Both political parties agreed on the importance of tuition relief, as collective student debt hit the $1 trillion mark this year, much earlier than expected, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The interest rate is now set to double July 1, 2013. Undergraduates whose families show financial need can get a Stafford loan. Graduate students have been unable to get subsidized student loans since the Budget Control Act of 2011 made them ineligible. In addition, lawmakers eliminated the six-month grace period after graduation, during which students were not obligated to pay interest on their loan. If students are unable to cover the interest, because they are still looking for work, that could damage their credit score.

©CNS Appeals panel OKs federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research Washington–A three-judge federal appeals panel has affirmed a lower court ruling that the US government can fund embryonic stem-cell research despite a federal ban on funding any research that harms or destroys human embryos. Chief Judge David B. Sentelle of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said the National Institutes of Health’s interpretation of the Dickey-Wicker amendment was “reasonable” in permitting funding of embryonic stem-cell research using cells derived using private funds. The amendment, approved annually by Congress since 1996, bars the use of federal monies for “the creation of a human embryo or embryos for research purposes” or “research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death greater than that allowed for research on fetuses in utero.” Sentelle said the funding guidelines promulgated by NIH in 2009 correctly and legally allowed funding only on stem cells derived from embryos created for artificial insemination and donated to scientists after the parents decided to discard them.

Embryonic stem cells are also known as “ESCs.” He wrote: “’Research’ as used in Dickey-Wicker may reasonably be understood to mean a ‘discrete endeavor’ that excludes the initial derivation of ESCs. Under that interpretation, Dickey-Wicker permits federal funding of research projects that utilize already derived ESCs–which are not themselves embryos–because no ‘human embryo or embryos are destroyed’ in such projects.” Circuit Judges Karen LeCraft Henderson and Janice Rogers Brown concurred with Sentelle’s conclusion but each wrote separate opinions. The Catholic Church opposes any research that harms the human embryo and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops had backed the goals of the lawsuit against federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research. ©CNS Court blocks state immigration provisions; ICE agents sue over deferral Washington–The Atlanta-based 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals blocked parts of Alabama’s and Georgia’s immigration-related laws, but allowed both states to keep their so-called “show me your papers” provisions. The same week, 10 employees of Immigration and Customs Enforcement sued the Obama administration over a program launched Aug. 15 to defer deportation for some young adults who came to the US as children. In separate Aug.

20 rulings, the appeals court struck down two sections of Alabama’s law and left in place a legal block on pieces of Georgia’s law. Both states’ requirements for law enforcement officers to ask for immigration documents from anyone they suspect might be in the country illegally were left intact, in keeping with the US Supreme Court’s ruling in June that upheld a similar provision in Arizona law. The 11th Circuit said it recognizes that the “show me your papers” provision “invites a host of other problems, namely racial profiling” and could lead to more lawsuits. The US Supreme Court in its June 25 ruling, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, said that provision in the Arizona law didn’t on its face conflict with the Constitution or impinge on federal jurisdiction. But Kennedy warned that the key to the provision’s survival is that it is not interpreted in a way that prolongs the detention of people who are stopped by police. The three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit said Georgia’s attempt to punish people who transport or harbor undocumented immigrants is pre-empted by federal law. Ruling on the Alabama law, the same three-judge panel court struck down provisions that mirrored two parts of Arizona’s law that were struck down by the Supreme Court.

The sections would have made it illegal for immigrants to fail to carry immigration documents and criminalized the act of seeking work if the individual lacks a work permit. ©CNS Courts urged not to dismiss Catholic lawsuits against HHS mandate Washington–In a dozen courts around the country, attorneys representing more than 40 Catholic dioceses or institutions have filed briefs arguing against the federal government’s call to dismiss lawsuits against its contraceptive mandate. The Catholic entities are seeking to overturn a requirement that most religious employers provide contraceptives and sterilization to their employees. The simultaneous filings Aug. 27 were in response to an Aug. 6 brief in which the Obama administration asked the courts to summarily dismiss the suits, saying they were premature and that the plaintiffs had no standing to challenge the Department of Health and Human Services’ mandate. “This case is about important rights to religious freedom protected by our founders under the First Amendment, assured by Congress under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, but trampled by Defendants under haphazard rulemaking,” says the 36-page brief filed on behalf of the University of Notre Dame.

Forty-three Catholic dioceses, schools, hospitals, social service agencies and other institutions initially filed suit in federal court May 21 to stop three government agencies from implementing a mandate that would require them to cover contraceptives and sterilization in their health plans. The Diocese of Peoria, Ill., and Catholic Charities of Chicago have since joined the lawsuits. Catholic organizations have objected to the contraceptive mandate since it was announced Aug. 1, 2011, by Kathleen Sebelius, HHS secretary. Unless they are subject to a narrow religious exemption or have a grandfathered health plan, employers will be required to pay for sterilizations and contraceptives, including some abortion-inducing drugs, as part of their health coverage. In the briefs, filed by Jones Day, an international law firm with more than 2,400 attorneys on five continents, the dioceses and Catholic institutions rebut arguments that the courts should not hear the cases because a “temporary enforcement safe harbor” protects them from immediate government action against them if they fail to comply with the mandate. ©CNS Share This: St. Maximillian Kolbe, martyr of chariy ST. MAXIMILIAN KOLBE--Fr.

Maximilian Kolbe is a Polish priest who gave his life in place of a young father condemned to execution at Auschwitz., Kolbe was declared a saint by the pope three years later. St. Maximilian Kolbe was among the first of the 474 men and women Pope John Paul II canonized in the last 25 years. (CNS file photo) St. Maximilian Kolbe, the Polish Franciscan priest, missionary, and martyr, is celebrated throughout the Church on Aug. 14. The saint died in the concentration camp at Auschwitz, during World War II, and is remembered as a “martyr of charity” for dying in place of another prisoner who had a wife and children. He was canonized by Pope John Paul II on Oct. 10, 1982. St. Maximilian is also celebrated for his missionary work, his evangelistic use of modern means of communication, and for his lifelong devotion to the Virgin Mary under her title of the Immaculate Conception. All these aspects of St. Maximilian’s life converged in his founding of the Militia Immaculata. The worldwide organization continues St.

Maximilian Kolbe’s mission of bringing individuals and societies into the Catholic Church, through dedication to the Virgin Mary. St. Maximilian, according to several biographies, was personally called by the Virgin Mary, both to his holy life and to his eventual martyrdom. As an impulsive and badly-behaved child, he prayed to her for guidance, and later described how she miraculously appeared to him holding two crowns: one was white, representing purity, the other red, for martyrdom. When he was asked to choose between these two destinies, the troublesome child and future saint said he wanted both. Radically changed by the incident, he entered the minor seminary of the Conventual Franciscans at age 13, in 1907. At age 20, he made his solemn vows as a Franciscan, earning a doctorate in philosophy the next year. Soon after, however, he developed chronic tuberculosis, which eventually destroyed one of his lungs and weakened the other. On Oct.

16, 1917, in response to anti-Catholic demonstrations by Italian Freemasons, Friar Maximilian led six other Franciscans in Rome to form the association they called the Militia Immaculata. The group’s founding coincided almost exactly with the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, and the Marian apparitions at Fatima, Portugal. CELL OF ST. MAXIMILIAN KOLBE--Pope Benedict XVI prayed in the cell of St. Maximilian Kolbe at the Nazi's Auschwitz death camp in Oswiecim, Poland, in 2006. The saint was put to death at the camp after volunteering to take the place of another man who had been sentenced to die. (CNS ph oto/Giancarlo Giuliani, Catholic Press Photo) As a Franciscan priest, Fr. Maximilian returned to work in Poland during the 1920s.

There, he promoted the Catholic faith through newspapers and magazines which eventually reached an extraordinary circulation, published from a monastery so large it was called the “City of the Immaculata.” In 1930 he moved to Japan, and had established a Japanese Catholic press by 1936, along with a similarly ambitious monastery. That year, however, he returned to Poland for the last time. In 1939, Germany invaded Poland, and Fr. Kolbe was arrested. Briefly freed during 1940, he published one last issue of the Knight of the Immaculata before his final arrest and transportation to Auschwitz in 1941. At the beginning of August that year, 10 prisoners were sentenced to death by starvation in punishment for another inmate’s escape. Moved by one man’s lamentation for his wife and children, Fr. Kolbe volunteered to die in his place. Survivors of the camp testified that the starving prisoners could be heard praying and singing hymns, led by the priest who had volunteered for an agonizing death. After two weeks, on the night before the Church’s feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the camp officials decided to hasten Fr.

Kolbe’s death, injecting him with carbolic acid. St. Maximilian Kolbe’s body was cremated by the camp officials on the feast of the Assumption. He had stated years earlier: “I would like to be reduced to ashes for the cause of the Immaculata, and may this dust be carried over the whole world, so that nothing would remain.” Share This: News Briefs: Aug. 17, 2012 Catholic swimmer makes Michigan parish proud with five Olympic medals Canton, MI–After all of the St. John Neumann parishioners who wished to sign an autograph book had written their messages of “good luck” and “Go USA!” the book was packed up with the Schmitt family and headed to London. Olympic swimmer Allison Schmitt, a 22-year-old parishioner of St. John Neumann Church in Canton, received the book when her family arrived and couldn’t believe the support she was getting. “She’s just so appreciative of the support she’s received from the parish, from the community,” said Gail Schmitt, Allison’s mother.

“Just being able to share the happiness, joy and hard work with everybody is really important to her and she was really touched by it.” Allison Schmitt, who could not be reached for comment, won three gold medals, a silver and a bronze in this year’s 2012 Summer Olympics, and St. John Neumann is abuzz about its Olympic gold medalist. The swimmer returned home Aug. 13. “We’ve had parishioners Emailing stuff throughout the whole week (of Allison’s events), saying how she did in preliminaries, how she did in the semifinals and finals. They’ve posted pictures from the sports blog Online,” said Fr. Ron Richards, pastor of the Canton parish. “Most of the parish is aware of what’s been happening,” the priest told The Michigan Catholic, newspaper of the Detroit Archdiocese. Gail Schmitt spoke of her daughter’s accomplishments but was most proud of the person she has become. “Of course I’m so proud of her. I’m proud of her accomplishments in the pool and the hard work and dedication that it takes to get there; it’s just amazing,” she said.

“But what really makes me feel good is repeatedly any time we meet anyone that has anything to do with her or with swimming, the first thing they say is how much of a light she is and how much she is so positive and a joy to be around. That’s something she’ll have her whole life.” ©CNS On Assumption, pope says Mary is with God, listening to prayers Castel Gandolfo, Italy–Assumed into heaven, Mary is with God and is ready to listen and respond to cries for help, Pope Benedict XVI said. Joining God in heaven, Mary “does not draw away from us, does not go to an unknown galaxy,” but becomes “even closer to each one of us,” the pope said Aug. 15 during his homily at Mass for the feast of the Assumption. With his 88-year-old brother, Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, seated in the front pew, the pope celebrated an early morning Mass in the Church of St. Thomas. Using a white-handled cane, the pope walked to the church across the square from the main entrance to the papal villa at Castel Gandolfo.

Mary’s assumption, he said, gives believers “a sure hope: God expects us, he awaits us. We are not moving toward a void. And going to that other world, we will find the goodness of the Mother (Mary), we will find our loved ones, we will find eternal love,” the pope said. Pope Benedict, who set aside his prepared text for much of his homily, said that Mary’s closeness to God ensures her closeness to all God’s creatures. “Mary, totally united with God, has a heart that is so big that all creation can find a place there,” a fact illustrated by the votive offerings people around the world leave at Marian shrines and statues when their prayers are answered, he said. Mary’s presence in heaven shows that “in God there is room for man,” he said. ©CNS Farmers say leaving worries to God only way to cope with US drought Des Moines, IA–For weeks farmers in southwest Iowa, such as Larry Rayhons of Lenox, have been checking the forecasts and clear skies for the hint at some relief in the form of rain during the worst drought since 1936.

“This is the worst drought we’ve experienced in 37 years of farming,” said Rayhons, a grain farmer and parishioner of St. Patrick Church in Lenox. “I may be able to muster 100 bushels an acre … half of what it could’ve been, but if that’s what the Lord wants me to have, I’ll be happy with it.” Rayhons and other members of his parish have been praying the rosary before every Mass offered in Lenox since the beginning of July. On July 27, parishioners took part in a day of fasting as a prayer for rain. “Our faith is strong enough that come floods or droughts, we know we’ll be OK,” Rayhons told The Catholic Mirror, newspaper of the Des Moines Diocese. “Sometimes our greatest disasters lead to our greatest blessings, but we don’t see that until we look back on it.” According to the National Weather Service, the area that makes up the diocese is currently in a severe drought and in danger of becoming an extreme drought if it persists as forecasted. An extreme drought causes major losses to crops and pastures and widespread water shortages. Urban and rural parishes across the diocese have been praying for rain.

Farmer and trader Bart Brummer, a member of St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Indianola, recalled similar situations when he was a young farmer. “I can remember when I was 25 or 26 standing out on the back porch just begging it to rain and being irritated at God, quite frankly,” he said. “But as you live through some of that and mature in your faith, you’re not sure how it’s going to work out but you know it will.” ©CNS Judge rules Hawaii laws against same-sex marriage not unconstitutional Honolulu–US District Court Judge Alan Kay in an Aug. 8 ruling said Hawaii’s laws banning same-sex marriage “are not unconstitutional” and he threw out a lawsuit that had argued otherwise. The Hawaii Family Forum, a Christian educational organization, had intervened in the case to defend Hawaii’s marriage statutes, and its attorney, Jim Hochberg, said he was pleased Kay “agreed with every argument,” except one, “made on behalf of” the forum. Three people had filed a lawsuit, supported by Hawaii Gov.

Neil Abercrombie, asking the court to declare unconstitutional the 1998 constitutional amendment that gave the state Legislature the power to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and the state law that subsequently did that. They argued that the amendment and the law violated due process and equal protection under the law. Kay disagreed, however, saying any restructuring of “the traditional institution of marriage” should be done through the Legislature or by the people by amending the constitution and “not through judicial legislation that would inappropriately pre-empt democratic deliberation.” He said the state could conclude that it has addressed the same sex marriage issue over the years “with caution,” first when the Legislature established reciprocal-beneficiary relationships 15 years ago, and last year when it legalized civil unions. “To suddenly constitutionalize the issue would short-circuit the legislative actions,” he said. ©CNS In Philippines, US, Catholics prepare to welcome new teen saint Manila, Philippines–Catholics in the Philippines and the US are preparing to celebrate the Oct. 21 canonization of Blessed Pedro Calungsod, a teen catechist killed in Guam in the 17th century.

Witness accounts in the records of Jesuit missionaries show Blessed Pedro died trying to protect his mentor, Jesuit Fr. Diego Jose Luis San Vitores, a missionary who was also killed in the attack. Two Chamorro chiefs pursued the missionaries when they learned Fr. San Vitores had baptized a chief’s daughter without his consent. Blessed Pedro, a native of Cebu province in the Philippines, “was the first to be attacked in the assault,” explained Msgr. Ildebrando Leyson of the Cebu Archdiocese. “And they marveled how he was so skillful in evading the darts of the spears … until finally he was hit in the chest. He fell and the other assassin split his skull.” Blessed Pedro’s martyrdom has captured the imagination of some admirers, but it was his intercession that made the Vatican take notice. Msgr. Leyson, rector of the Shrine of Blessed Pedro Calungsod, spent about 15 years looking into Blessed Pedro’s history. He was part of a team of clergy that had to verify miraculous works attributed to the martyr, who was beatified in 2000. Msgr.

Leyson said there were many claims of sick people being healed because they asked for Blessed Pedro’s intercession. In 2003, an unnamed patient recovered from a type of deep coma that is rarely survived. When such patients do survive, they normally remain in a vegetative state. ©CNS Philadelphia Archdiocese aims to ease deficit by selling properties Philadelphia–The Archdiocese of Philadelphia Aug. 13 announced the planned sale of select real estate holdings, on a case-by-case basis, to address its operating deficit in the current fiscal year. A deficit of at least $6 million is expected even before any extraordinary costs may be incurred. Properties included are the previously announced sale of the archbishop’s residence in the Overbrook section of Philadelphia, and Villa St. Joseph by the Sea in Ventnor, NJ. Added to the list are Holy Family Center and a large portion of the adjacent Archdiocesan Pastoral Center parking lot in Philadelphia and the Mary Immaculate Retreat Center in Northampton, PA. “To address the cash flow challenges caused by the deficits, the church is faced with hard decisions,” Philadelphia Abp. Charles J. Chaput said in a news release.

“It’s similar to what families have to do when their expenses are greater than their income. We just can’t afford to maintain and hold assets like Villa St. Joseph by the Sea and my residence. Holding on to these properties at this time would be inconsistent with the mission of our church.” Villa St. Joseph by the Sea, a 9,800-square-foot residence that has 11 bedrooms with baths, occupies a half-acre beachfront property. It has served primarily as a summer vacation home for retired priests since 1963. It is scheduled to be sold at auction Sept. 15 by Max Spann Real Estate and Auction Co. The archbishop’s residence, a 16-room mansion, was purchased by Card. Dennis Dougherty in 1935 and has been the home of Philadelphia’s archbishops ever since. It is expected to be sold in a private sale in the near future. ©CNS LCWR announces decision to continue to dialogue on Vatican assessment St. Louis–Members of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious announced Aug. 10 at the close of their four-day assembly in St. Louis that they will continue to dialogue with church officials about the Vatican’s doctrinal assessment of their organization.

LCWR’s outgoing president, Franciscan Sr. Pat Farrell, said the group’s leaders would begin dialogue with Seattle Abp. J. Peter Sartain, who is charged with overseeing the group’s reform. He attended the organization’s board meeting the following day. Sr. Farrell said LCWR members hoped its leaders would have “open and honest dialogue” that would lead to greater understanding and to greater opportunities for women to have a voice in the church. She said the officers would “proceed with these discussions as long as possible but would reconsider if LCWR is forced to compromise the integrity of its mission.” Abp. Sartain said that along with LCWR’s, he remained “committed to working to address the issues raised by the doctrinal assessment in an atmosphere of prayer and respectful dialogue. We must also work toward clearing up any misunderstandings, and I remain truly hopeful that we will work together without compromising church teaching or the important role of the LCWR,” Abp. Sartain said in a statement released Aug. 11 after his meeting with the LCWR board.

“I look forward to our continued discussions as we collaborate in promoting consecrated life in the United States.” In its assessment issued in April, the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said a reform of LCWR was needed to ensure its fidelity to Catholic teaching in areas including abortion, euthanasia, women’s ordination and homosexuality. Abp. Sartain said in his statement LCWR brings “unique gifts to its members and to the church at large. This uniqueness includes sensitivity to suffering, whether in Latin America or the inner-city; whether in the life of an unborn child or the victim of human trafficking.” ©CNS Vatican magistrates order trial for papal assistant accused of theft Vatican City–Vatican magistrates have formally indicted Pope Benedict XVI’s personal assistant, Paolo Gabriele, on charges of aggravated theft and have indicted a computer technician from the Vatican Secretariat of State on minor charges of aiding Gabriele after he stole Vatican correspondence. The publication Aug. 13 of the decision of Piero Bonnet, the Vatican’s investigating judge, included for the first time the naming of a second suspect, Claudio Sciarpelleti, the Secretariat of State employee.

Vatican police found an envelope from Gabriele in Sciarpelleti’s desk and arrested him, according to the documents explaining Bonnet’s judgment. While the computer expert gave “contrasting versions of the facts” to investigators, in the end it was determined that there was enough evidence to bring him to trial on a charge of aiding and abetting Gabriele after the fact. The Vatican magistrates did not set a date for the trial or trials, but Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said it would not be set before Sept. 20 because the Vatican court is in recess Aug. 14-Sept. 20. Fr. Lombardi said the charge against Sciarpelleti carries a “very light” sentence, which is unlikely to include any jail time. Pope Benedict could have intervened at any time to stop the investigation and legal process and he still has the option of clearing the two laymen without a trial. ©CNS Nationwide Crossroads walks conclude with pro-life rally in Washington Washington–They crossed 2,000 miles of mountains and prairie, sun and sleet, city and country to spread the Catholic Church’s pro-life message.

“They” were mostly college-age volunteers who walked from coast to coast in four separate groups, protesting at abortion clinics along the way, before arriving in Washington for a rally Aug. 11. The walk was challenging at times, volunteers Matt Rochefort and Stephanie Culy said a day before the rally. Rochefort’s group braved wildlife, including a bear sighting at night. Meanwhile, Culy’s group trekked up the Cascade Mountains to cross Washington state, but they remained dedicated to their mission. “We were climbing 1,600 feet in five miles, and it was windy and raining,” said Culy, but any adversity they faced was worth it to take a stand against “the culture of death. This is the kind of culture we’re working against. I thought of Christ walking to Golgotha. That image really stuck to me,” she said. Rochefort believed the clinic protests were effective. “Not many people engaged us–most people didn’t know what pro-life is. I think a lot of the problem is the ignorance of abortion,” said Rochefort. “But we don’t use graphic pictures or signs. We try to be a peaceful presence.

We were very enthusiastic after the first mile in Santa Monica, and this teenager, his name was Gabe and I will never forget, walks up to this group of us in pro-life shirts and begins to argue with us. It was just so amazing; he really cared about the women. I think it took a lot of courage for Gabe. We prayed for him for the rest of the walk, and I really believe he’ll turn around” and see that abortion is wrong, Rochefort said. ©CNS Unions have essential role in renewal of ‘broken economy,’ bishop says Washington–Labor unions and other worker associations are necessary to help propel workers and their families out of poverty amid a “broken economy,” said the chairman of the US bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development. “Economic renewal that places working people and their families at the center of economic life cannot take place without effective unions,” declared Bp. Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, Calif. “This renewal requires business, religious, labor and civic organizations to work together to help working people defend their dignity, claim their rights, and have a voice in the workplace and broader economy,” he said.

“Everyone and every institution has a role to play in building a more just economy,” which “serves the person rather than the other way around.” Bp. Blaire made his remarks in the annual Labor Day statement issued by the committee he heads. Dated Sept. 3, this year’s observance of the federal Labor Day holiday, the statement, “Placing Work and Workers at the Center of Economic Life,” released Aug. 13, looks at economic issues through church teaching. “Our country continues to struggle with a broken economy that is not producing enough decent jobs. Millions of Americans suffer from unemployment, underemployment or are living in poverty as their basic needs too often go unmet. This represents a serious economic and moral failure for our nation,” Bp. Blaire said. ©CNS Nellie Gray, 86, dies; was March for Life founder and emcee Washington–Nellie Gray, who started the annual March for Life parade to protest the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion nationwide, died Aug. 13 at age 86 from natural causes. She was found dead in her home in Washington’s Capitol Hill neighborhood by a March for Life staffer.

The March for Life has grown into one of the signature events of the pro-life movement. After the first march in 1974, Gray, a Texas native, established the March for Life Education & Defense Fund to sustain it. Each year in her remarks, Gray exhorted pro-lifers to promote and adhere to a series of “life principles” that would eliminate abortion and enhance life, to which she said there should be “no exception! No compromise!” Gene Ruane, an administrative assistant with the March for Life, told Catholic News Service Aug. 14 that leadership of the organization would be assumed by Terrence Scanlon, who has been its vice president “since the beginning.” Funeral information was not immediately available. Gray was a member of St. Mary, Mother of God Parish in Washington. Born and raised in Texas, Gray served as a corporal in the Women’s Army Corps during World War II. She later earned a bachelor’s degree in business and a master’s in economics. She worked for the federal government for 28 years at the State Department and the Department of Labor, while attending Georgetown University Law School. Gray later practiced law before the US Supreme Court.

In a 2010 profile, Gray said she wasn’t a Catholic as a child, but “I had elements of the Catholic faith in my life.” As a young woman, she encountered a priest who brought to light what the Catholic Church was about, and he tutored her until she joined the church. ©CNS Share This: (CNS illustration/Emily Thompson) With people’s lifestyles and concerns constantly changing, what’s the state of prayer in modern life? The Society of the Holy Child Jesus, an international community of women religious founded in 1846, wanted to find out, so its members conducted a survey. And the results have helped them better understand the pressing concerns that influence people to seek comfort and guidance in prayer today–and been incorporated into meditations the community has provided since 2010 on its blog, . The survey was Emailed to everyone in the community’s database and shared on its blog, Facebook fan page and Twitter feed. More than 400 people responded, ranging in age from 19 to 65 years and older. Sr. Mary Anne Buckley, leader of the religious community’s American province said, “The large response was very encouraging.

We learned we were reaching an active audience, and we learned their concrete suggestions.” “Meditation is such a help in a busy world. We are distracted and the meditations are a way to focus in a way that is nourishing and strengthens the person,” Sr. Buckley said. The survey asked respondents to identify whether they were more concerned with personal issues or global issues. “We found prayer for many people started as a personal concern that was weighing heavily on their life,” she said. Seventy percent of the respondents overall selected personal concerns. Of that group, 51 percent said family issues ranked highest among their most pressing issues, followed by finances (47 percent), job security (33 percent), and illness (36 percent) as their most pressing issues. Other more emotional factors such as stress, loneliness, and depression also were listed as important. For the other 30 percent of respondents, the primary source of concern was world issues. Of that number, poverty topped the list for 76 percent; world peace, 58 percent; homelessness, 53 percent; and the economy, 47 percent.

Though much of the polling results reflected America’s current economic troubles, an even more significant portion of respondents’ identified concerns with problems often associated with the Third World, including poverty, access to clean water, and homelessness. For both groups, religious issues also were a concern, with 28 percent citing Church issues and 21 percent saying they were searching for a spiritual connection. But economic issues were the most pressing. “This is what all of the politicians have been saying,” said Sr. Buckley. “The economy is the number one issue voters are concerned with.” The religious community’s monthly meditations were introduced in 2010 to be a source of comfort and inspiration for visitors to its Web site. “Our own interest in the meditations started as a casual thing, but doing the survey showed us that people were using our site, and it encourages us to continue to develop it,” Sr. Buckley said. The meditations always have focused on various topics and encouraged reflection, but leaders of the community believed the meditations could take on greater significance if they more accurately reflected the concerns of modern Catholics. “We plan on using this information (from the survey) to optimize our search engine.

People will be able to find the right meditations more quickly.” There is even a social networking aspect. “We’ve attached a blog that invites sharing and community building. Social media can be a tool of community support,” she added. The meditations now also include reflection questions. The questions prompt participants to reflect on many of the personal or global issues identified in the survey. Additionally, the survey results will affect the themes of the meditations themselves. Future meditations will help assuage concerns over finding meaning in political issues, adapting to a changing Church, confronting and coping with economic realities, and responding to a lack of faith among Catholics. Sr. Buckley said, “The response to the meditations that were created with the insights of the surveys has been positive. As people search for meaning and guidance, we hope that more of our friends will visit the SHCJ Web site and gain strength, experience joy, and become closer with God as they read and reflect upon the monthly meditations.” The Society of the Holy Child Jesus plans to conduct another survey in 2013 to keep up to date with issues Catholics identify as areas for prayer. Share This:

Question: Which Roman Catholic saint was a Polish Franciscan priest who worked in Japan and India before his death in Auschwitz in 1941, after he volunteered to take the place of a condemned young father?
Answer: Fr. Maximilian Kolbe